


When the Hands of Fate Fall on the Midnight Hour

by DalishGreyWarden



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempted Murder, F/M, Psychological Horror, Toying around with the lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-03 08:28:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16322750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DalishGreyWarden/pseuds/DalishGreyWarden
Summary: Rune Lavellan is the Second of Clan Lavellan, learning how to run her clan in the future of Keeper Deshanna dying. Drama unfolds within the clan leading Rune to make a difficult decision to expel a clan member for causing trouble. Rune finds her life spiraling out of control and she turns to the Winchesters, Sam especially, in her time of need as she faces down a crazed stalker who is hell bent on ruining her life.





	1. Chapter 1

"Come da'len, we've got a lot of work to do today. We'll be working on your healing magic and I'll be allowing you to handle problems within the clan." Keeper Deshanna poked her head into my aravel, a warm smile on her worn, tired face.

 

“Of course Keeper. I'll be out in a moment." I bowed my head respectfully before grabbing the cool wood of my staff. My magic felt as if it had pulled in and steadied itself as my fingers held the ironbark tightly, leaving me with a relaxed, comfortable feeling as I stepped out into the early morning light.

 

"Here, we can't focus on our teachings on an empty stomach," Keeper handed me a freshly made roll stuffed with halla cheese, scrambled eggs, and bacon. "And healing the injured will be much more draining without something in your system." She led the way to the aravel we'd house our wounded in, pulling the snoufleur leather curtain aside to reveal two of our hunters waiting.

 

"Ghestlin and Ean'harel had a run in with some rather... unpleasant humans. I'll guide you through what to do."

 

I nodded, stuffing what was left of my breakfast into my mouth and washed up quickly so I could get started.

 

"Ean'harel let's start with you. That looks like a pretty nasty dagger wound." I was inspecting his left shoulder blade carefully, gently pulling the fabric away so I could get a better look at the shoulder.

 

"Take note of what you see Rune. Describe the wounds, tell me what you see." Keeper's voice was soft, trying not to be too much of a distraction.

 

"The wound itself is clean, possibly only an inch or so deep. There's a good chance there's some muscle damage, thus leading to the possibility of nerve damage and a hard time using the arm again even with therapy... the blade that did this is a single edge blade and there's come significant bruising occurring as well." I observed softly, gently moving my hands over the area.

 

"Good, now in order to heal this, you'll need to reach deep into your mana reserves and focus. I have lyrium bottles if you need them."

 

An hour later, I'd patched both hunter’s up and was eating a late lunch, my stomach growling hungrily as I got comfortable and got my food ready.

 

"Thanks for fixing me up, Rune."

 

I looked up to see Ghestlin towering over me, a smile lighting his face up.

 

"No problem Ghestlin." I looked back down at my food, not wanting to give him too much of my time.

 

"So, what are you eating? It smells great." Ghestlin inquired curiously, that smile still on his face as he sat down across from me.

 

"Loaded potato soup." I muttered, taking another bite of the flavorful food, savoring its warmth and rich taste.

 

"Looks great. Did you make it yourself?"

 

My ire was rising greatly but I swallowed it back, trying to stay calm. Ghestlin had been a thorn in my side since we were kids. He just couldn't take a hint to leave me alone much to my chagrin.

 

"Yes. Excuse me Ghestlin, I have other duties to attend to." I carefully set my half-filled bread bowl in my Tupperware and walked off to visit with anyone else but him.

 

"Hey, Rune, are you alright? I saw Ghestlin harassing you again." Eirlana, one of my best friends, fell into step with me as we headed to the halla pen so I could try to finish my lunch in peace.

 

"Yes, I'm fine. Just annoyed. Ghestlin just doesn't know when to leave me alone." I groaned, plopping down on the ground by the pen, leaning my back against the thick wooden fence slats.

 

"Figures. He's so creepy. And seriously, what is his obsession with you?" She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

 

"I was the only one who was nice to him when we were kids. Even back then he was weird. It was like he was... missing something if that makes sense?"

 

"Yeah, he's broken, damaged goods. Seriously be careful around him, he's pretty unstable and I don't want to think of what would happen if you made him angry unintentionally Rune."

 

***

 

The day had flown by much quicker than I'd anticipated but I'd handled most of the Keeper's tasks on my own, solving problems, healing the sick or wounded, and learning to keep my magic under control. It was tiring work and I could see why she was always exhausted.

 

"Rune, hey, Keeper Deshanna needs you."

 

I followed Athras from the lake back to camp, going over to the aravels, a frown appearing on my face when I saw Ghestlin holding a dark red cloth to his nose, the Keeper and Eirlana waiting with him, looks of disappointment and fury on each of their faces.

 

"He has to go Keeper! He's a lunatic!" Eirlana was raging, her hatred and mistrust of Ghestlin seething into her words, her dark blue eyes narrowed in anger as she stared fireballs at Ghestlin.

 

"You're the one who attacked me! You should be punished, not me!" Ghestlin snapped back, just as angry as she was. Eirlana whipped towards me when she saw me standing there, throwing an accusatory finger towards Ghestlin.

 

"Rune, I caught him in your aravel pawing through your clothing! I told you he was a creep!" Her voice was a deep snarl, the anger even more apparent now. I could feel my jaw drop in shock at her words and I quickly looked between her and Ghestlin, trying to process what just happened.

 

"I knew someone had been going through my things, and while I shouldn't be shocked to hear it was you Ghestlin, I still find myself surprised. Keeper Deshanna, I would like it if Ghestlin was kept far away from myself, my aravel, and Eirlana. I'm willing to overlook this transgression if Eirlana and I are issued apologies and if anything was taken from my aravel, it needs to be put back." I finally ground out, still trying to process just what was happening here.

 

Ghestlin muttered an apology to us before pushing by, shoulder checking Eirlana as he stalked off, grumbling under his breath.

 

"I'll keep an eye on him." Athras offered quietly, squeezing my shoulder gently and hurried after Ghestlin to make sure he stayed out of trouble.

 

"Rune, if Ghestlin continues this poor behavior, I will force him out of the clan." Keeper Deshanna's voice was stoic and hard, a tone I rarely heard from her unless it was a serious matter.

 

"Yes Keeper, I understand." I bowed my head and waited for her to leave so I could speak with Eirlana. "You shouldn't have punched him, lethallan. Now he's really going to have it out for you."

 

Eirlana shrugged, a wolfish grin on her face as she followed me back into my aravel, sitting down on the cool wooden floor.

 

"Yeah, well, he deserved it. I caught him sniffing your underwear, it was so gross. Pretty sure I broke his nose by the way. It made a pretty nasty crunching sound when my fist connected." She laughed as she described punching him. I made a face at the mention of him sniffing my underwear. A shudder ran through me at the thought of him being in my personal space while I wasn't here.

 

"Guess he's the reason I had to keep buying more small clothes. Ugh that really creeps me out. And now I'm wondering if he's come in while I've been sleeping." I mumbled darkly, shivering again at the thought.

 

"Eww or what if he's watched you bathing at the hot spring? Gross now I'm all freaked out. What you need are some of the other hunters to watch over your aravel at night." Eirlana shuddered too, her face pulling into a sour look before she got to her feet and hauled me to mine.

 

"Yeah... let's go talk to Athras and the others to see if they'd be willing to step in. I don't know if I even trust Ghestlin to listen to me or the Keeper at this point." I sighed heavily. Eirlana agreed and bounded out of the aravel, yelling for her twin brother to get over here, laughter bursting from her when he launched a half-made boot at her. I laughed as well and sat down with some of the clan's hunters.

 

"So, Rune, heard that Ghestlin was in your aravel. Still don't know why the Keeper let's him stay around. He's a damned psychopath. If it were up to me, I'd toss him out and tell the other clans not to allow him to join them." Evunial, Eirlana's brother, grumbled with an irate look on his face. The other hunters agreed, everyone muttering about how off he was.

 

"Well, could you guys take shifts checking in on Rune's aravel to make sure he stays away from Rune?" Eirlana asked. Evunial nodded and started working out a schedule to keep watch.

 

_Today can just stop now. I'm not sure how much more I can take before I punch someone._ I thought with a sigh.

 

"Okay, well, thanks you guys. I appreciate it. I'm going to go into town and grab a bite to eat. See you in while."

 

***

 

Twenty minutes later, I was chowing down on a juicy, medium rare bacon cheeseburger happily. This little diner had some of the best food around and I loved coming here to eat when I didn't feel like cooking.

 

The chime of the bell caught my attention and I watched as the host led two handsome human men to the table next to mine. The shorter of the two glanced my way, doing a quick double take and grinned a little flirtatiously. I returned it before going back to my dinner, popping a few fries in my mouth thoughtfully, turning to look out the window, lost in my own thoughts.

 

"Can I get you another freckled lemonade?" My waitress seemed to pop up from nowhere, startling me.

 

"Oh, uh, yes please. Thank you." I gave her a slight smile as she took my empty glass and set another basket of fries down next to my plate, walking off towards the kitchen.

 

"Hey, uh, are you Dalish by any chance?"

 

I jumped once more when a masculine voice addressed my shoulder, whipping my head towards the voice just in time to see the taller of the two men watching me curiously.

 

"Yes, I am. Rune Lavellan, second of Clan Lavellan. And you are?" I reached over and shook his hand, smiling shyly at him.

 

"Sam Frehley. Could I trouble you for a second about some elvish writing that was found at a crime scene that my partner and I are working? None of the elves on the task force speak elven."

 

"Sure, do you have it with you? I could translate it from what little of the ancient language I've learned from my Keeper." I beamed and motioned for him to join me at the table.

 

"Here, take a look." He returned my smile, handing me a notepad that was flipped open to some elvhen words. I quickly wiped my hands off with my napkin and took the paper, a frown tugging at my lips as I read it over a few times to be sure I was reading this right.

 

"Huh... whoever wrote this obviously doesn't speak elvhen. It's literally just nonsense, a bunch of random words. Halla, dragon, Fen'Harel, wolf, blue... unless there's more notes than this, then none of it is really a good clue." I handed the notebook back over to Sam, scoffing a bit at the nonsense that someone took the time to write up.

 

"Really? Huh that seems... odd. Unless -"

 

"Unless you're looking for someone who hates elves and wanted to put the blame on us." I finished Sam's sentence, staring hard at him.

 

"Hey, what's up?" The shorter guy came back, a fresh beer in his hand.

 

"Dean, this is Rune Lavellan. I asked her about the elvhen we found, and she said it was all random words. Figure that it's not actually an elf, or at least it's not likely. It's probably someone who hates elves and wanted to throw us off." Sam explained while his friend moved over to my table as well, shaking my hand firmly.

 

"It's still possible that it could be a city elf that's self-loathing towards his or her own race. I've met an elf like that once, her name is Sera. She's a cunt, but not one to do something quite this drastic." I shrugged, pulling a face when bringing up Sera.

 

"Internalized racism? That's interesting to hear. Thanks for helping us out with this, really appreciate it." Dean mused thoughtfully, taking a drink of his beer. I waved him off, a sheepish smile on my face and looked down at my empty plate.

 

"It's no trouble at all. If you find any more elvhen, let me know and I'll translate it for you." I wrote my cell number down and handed it to Sam with a slight grin before grabbing my receipt and going up to the front to pay for my meal.


	2. Chapter 2

[Ghestlin's POV]

 

Anger was burning in my gut as I stormed away from the Keeper, Rune and Eirlana.

 

_Fuck that bitch for punching me._ My lip curled in disgust at the thought of that meddling bitch. I could have been in and out of Rune's aravel if I had been more careful and closed the door. But I fucked up and got caught.

 

"Ghestlin, where are you going?" Athras came jogging up to me while I was grabbing my bow and quiver.

 

"Fuck off Athras. Get out of my way." I spat, stalking off into the quickly darkening woods to do some hunting. "Why can't she just love me back? I've done so much for her and she throws it back into my face. Stupid bitch." I muttered under my breath once I was far enough away from the camp so no one else would hear me. Rune was the love of my life and I was going to make her mine.

 

_I don't recognize this part of the woods. This path is new..._ I had been walking for the better part of an hour, lost in my thoughts of Rune, when I noticed the sounds of animals had completely stopped. The air felt humid and thick, almost heavy with an odd sensation. The path began to look more and more old and overgrown the further down it I went, and I had to admit that I was curious to see where it led to.

_Maybe if I tell the Keeper about this, she'll be less angry at me._ I felt hopeful that I'd be finding some sort of ancient elvhen artifact or temple ruins. The further I walked, the darker the path became, and strange whispers began to catch my attention. Goosebumps rose up on my arms, fear tugging faintly on my heart with each voice I heard. None of the voices spoke a language that I could recognize but they sounded frantic and harsh as they repeated the same things repeatedly.

"Whoa." I came to a halt in front of a strange looking temple, the voices stopping immediately, the silence almost worse than the voices were. Hesitating a moment, I tried to decide if I should go in alone, when the voices started up again. They sounded as if they were coming from behind me, so I quickly lit a torch and went inside, the darkness swallowing me whole.

 

***

 

I groaned softly, opening my eyes slowly, looking around and taking in my surroundings. It looked like I'd fallen down the crumbling stairs that had led the way down to this cavernous room where an old alter was waiting in the middle of the room.

 

"Well, this definitely isn't elvhen. But the Keeper may still find it interesting." I muttered, getting to my feet slowly, brushing myself off and looked at the altar. It was a decent size and carved out of something that could have been bone or ivory with strange, creepy symbols and skulls covered in the tops and the sides of the alter. Resting on top was a small-ish box that had more of those strange symbols painted on the surface. The voices were back in full force, frenzied and frantic, almost seeming to urge me on to go to the box. I slowly approached it, reaching out with trembling hands, and opened the box as the voices reached a crescendo before coming to a sudden stop once I touched the mask.

 

"So, an elvhen mask in some sort of box made from skin... That's... bizarre." I whispered, picking the old, worn mask up, turning it over and around to get a better look at it. It was obviously old but very well preserved and had some ancient elvhen written in red ink on the inside of it, but I couldn't translate any of it.

 

_Oh, the Keeper is going to love this. An old elvhen owl mask is rare to find still intact like this._ I was grinning from ear to ear as I held the mask carefully in my hands, admiring the paint job that had been done to it.

 

**_Put it on._ **

 

**_Yes, put it on._ **

 

I froze as the whispers came back, coherent this time now that I was holding the mask. Chills ran down my spine as the whispers kept insisting, demanding, screaming for me to put the mask on.

 

**_Do it! Do it!_ **

 

**_Wear the mask._ **

 

**_Put it on._ **

 

**_Do it!_ **

 

I lifted the mask to my face and slipped it on, gasping in shock as it seemed to merge with my skin, the ink glowing bright as it wormed its way into my face. The voices were cheering, triumphant, while I hunched over, screaming in pain, clawing at the mask, trying to rip it from my skin to no avail. It was like a series of hot pokers were being pushed slowly into my skin and left there to burn, leaving my eyes watering with pain. Nausea slammed into my guts so hard it took my breath away, leaving me panting and retching, my body shaking hard with agony. Moments later, it was as if nothing had ever happened; I felt like a brand-new person. The voices were gone again, silence reigning over the temple once more and yet it didn't bother me. I knew how to leave this place and how to make Rune love me. It was time to go back to camp so I could begin my plans to make Rune mine.

 

***

 

I had cut through town to grab something to eat when I spotted Rune talking to two men who looked like they might have been cops, and I froze in place. She was smiling and nodding her head before writing something down on a piece of paper and left, waving goodbye to them. Jealousy burned in my stomach as I watched them leave, the taller of the two grinning a little bit as he glanced back towards Rune's retreating back.

 

_I need to get back to camp and start working._


	3. Chapter 3

[Rune’s POV]

 

“Well you look happier.” Eirlana grinned at me when she spotted me walking back into camp.

 

“Yeah, I had a great dinner. And chatted with two cute guys, too.” I chuckled a little, grinning shyly when Eirlana wolf whistled and waggled her eyebrows playfully at me.

 

“Ooh look at you go, girl! You gotta tell me all about them!” She looped her arm through mine and we headed over to my aravel so we could have some girl time and relax after this weird day.

 

“Okay, tell me all about the hotties at the diner. Were they elves? No, wait, humans. No, no, wait, I bet they were Tal-Vashoth. Mmm love me some hunky, muscular Tal-Vashoth men.” Eirlana had the biggest shit eating grin on her face ever as she tried to guess what race Sam and Dean were.

 

“Right, okay, so here I am just eating my burger and fries, contemplating about how today went, right? Well here comes the host leading these two super cute human men to the table directly next to mine! The shorter of the two, Dean, was all smiling flirtatiously and I returned it because hey, why not right? But his buddy, Sam? Oh, Lana, he was just so damn _adorable_! Think classic tall, dark and handsome plus some serious brain power! And you know me, I love smart guys. There is nothing sexier than someone who can carry on a good conversation, has nice manners and is respectful to boot! He actually talked to me, too! Asked for help translating some elvhen for a case he and his partner were working.” I couldn’t help the silly grin that lit my face up and the dreamy sigh that followed it.

 

“So he’s a cop? That alone is sexy!” She joked, tossing some popcorn at me with a laugh. I pulled a face at her but laughed too, tossing it right back at her.

 

“Shush you. Anyway, I sort of exchanged numbers with him in case he needed anymore help. I almost hope he’ll call or text me just because, though. I’d love to sit down and have a nice chat about books or movies or even something silly like poetry with someone who can keep up with me.” That dreamy smile and sigh were back again, much to Eirlana’s delight.

 

“He sounds wonderful, Rune. Mind hooking a girl up with his friend?” Eirlana teased with a wink. I shrugged, grinning from ear to ear, and promised I’d see what I could do for her the next time I saw them if I saw them again.

 

“Anyway, thanks for staying with me by the way Lana. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep otherwise after what happened today.” I shivered at the thought of Ghestlin once more, rubbing my arms a little to try and get the goosebumps that popped up to go away. Eirlana reached over and squeezed my hands in hers gently, a soft smile on her face. She was pretty much family since we’d grown up together and I thought of her like an older sister whom I was so grateful to have here in my life, especially now. Being alone would have absolutely sucked and I definitely would not be okay being here alone.

 

“It’s no problem lethallan. You’re my best friend, I’ve always got your back. Plus, we haven’t had a sleepover in ages! I would suggest watching a horror movie like the good old days, but after today, it feels wrong to suggest since we practically lived one briefly.” Eirlana was actually serious for once, a sincere tone in her voice. I leaned in and hugged her tightly before grabbing the TV remote and flicked the TV on, putting on some cheesy romcom to lighten the mood a bit.

 

“I vote we watch lame ass romcoms and laugh at how bad they are. And musicals, we need some good musicals to watch too.” I suggested with a grin, trying to lighten the somber mood the room had taken on.

 

“Agreed. But we have to watch Moulin Rogue and the Phantom of the Opera. No movie night is complete without them! Plus, I could listen to Ewan McGregor sing all night and day, that man is so sexy in Moulin Rogue.”

 

“Oh don’t even get me started on that man’s voice. It’s beautiful.” I got to my feet and headed to the back of my aravel where my small kitchen was so I cold grab some more drinks, snacks and some tissues since Moulin Rogue never failed to leave me crying my heart out, when some movement in my window caught the corner of my eye. I looked over and let out a loud scream when I saw a strange looking face looking into my window.

 

“Son of a bitch!” I shrilled, lobbing a rather large ball of ice at the window, shattering it into pieces.

 

“What the fuck? What happened?” Eirlana had scrambled to her feet, eyes wide with fear thanks to my reaction to whoever was outside.

 

“Someone was watching us!” My voice was loud and squeaky as I pointed a trembling finger towards the broken window.

 

“Ghestlin?”

 

“I-I’m not sure. I thought it was…” My voice trailed off and I moved quickly, grabbing my staff and bolting outside to see if I could catch whoever was lurking about.

 

“Rune, Eirlana! What’s going on? We heard screaming and glass shatter.” Evunial and Lahalaan came running up to us, weapons drawn and at the ready.

 

“I saw someone outside my window watching Lana and I.”

 

Lahalaan went ahead of me, her shield up and sword poised for attack while Evunial shined a flashlight on the ground, frowning when he spotted something right there outside the spot under my window.

 

“Well there’s definitely footprints here. And… feathers? Barn owl by the looks of it. There’s no shapeshifters nearby, are there?” Evunial glanced over at us. Lahalaan and Eirlana shrugged their shoulders and I had to stop to think about it for a moment, going over the small list of names in my head of people I knew that were shapeshifters.

 

“Just Morrigan and I know this wasn’t her. She would have shifted back after scaring us and gave us a Morrigan styled apology.” I finally spoke up, running a hand through my hair, anxious all over again.

 

“I don’t think it was Ghestlin. I hadn’t seen him at all since he stormed off earlier.” Lahalaan murmured timidly, shrugging her shoulders again, a skeptical look on her face as she spoke.

 

“It could have been him. Rune, Lahalaan and I will keep an eye on your aravel with extra help. You and Eirlana should go back in and try to have a good time despite this.” Evunial instructed, sending us back inside. I grabbed a large, super thick blanket and put it up over my broken window, using my ice magic to seal it in place so it would keep anything out that would try to come in. I was even more anxious now than I was earlier and I _hated_ feeling unsafe in my own home.

 

“I think I just kinda want to try to sleep, okay Lana?” I whispered, grabbing all of the other blankets in my home and laid most of them out, creating a soft, comfy pallet for us to sleep on.

 

“Yeah, of course Rune. Let’s try to get some sleep.” She agreed kindly, turning the lights off and settling down on the pallet. Moments later, the soft sounds of her peaceful breathing were the only sounds I could hear as lay there quietly in the dark, too scared to sleep.

 

**Hey Rune, it’s Sam from the diner. Hope I’m not texting you too late, I just wanted to say thanks again for your help.**

 

I smiled as I read the text from Sam that just popped up on my phone, happy to hear from him.

 

**Hi Sam. No, I’m still awake, can’t sleep. What are you doing up so late?**

 

I waited excitedly to see what he what he had to say, figuring if I couldn’t sleep then I could at least talk to him and get to know him better.

 

**Can’t sleep either. This case is really tough. So what’s up?**

 

**Not much really. Thinking about watching a movie for a while. How about you?**

 

I sat up and quietly went over to the kitchen to grab a snack, my stomach growling a little bit. I could never sleep on an entirely empty stomach, the cramps from hunger pains usually too much to keep me from actually sleeping.

 

**Still working on this case. We found another victim, but it’s an elf this time. No elvhen was left behind this time. It’s bizarre. Well, more bizarre than it already was.**

 

I tilted my head to the side, frowning a little as I reread his text again a few times. That did seem pretty odd that one victim was a human and had elvhen nonsense left behind while the newest victim was an elf and zero elvhen left behind.

 

**Okay, that is super strange. Good luck solving your case Sam.**

 

Sam and I texted back and forth a little longer before saying goodnight. I was finally feeling tired enough to sleep, snuggling into my blankets and fell asleep quickly, a soft smile on my face as I drifted off thinking about Sam.

 

***

 

Three days had gone by without any issues from Ghestlin and I was beginning to finally put my guard down a little. I’d been able to get stuff done around the clan without worrying about him popping up everywhere I went and while I did feel a little bad about admitting it, I was really relieved.

 

“Don’t look now, but here comes trouble.” Eirlana muttered, nodding a little towards Ghestlin. We’d been enjoying a peaceful lunch near the craftsmen’s tables, enjoying the sounds of the clan’s weapons master and his apprentices working, when Ghestlin started making his way over here towards us.

 

“Oh Creators.” I huffed under my breath, getting to my feet quickly and gathered up my things so I could just leave.

 

“Rune, wait! Here, I got you tiger lilies. I know they’re your favorite flowers and I wanted to do something nice for you.” He was holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a small nicely wrapped box in the other.

 

“You’re not supposed to be interacting with her, Ghestlin. The Keeper warned you three days ago to stay away.” Eirlana stepped in front of me, trying to keep Ghestlin from following after as I started to walk away.

 

“I’m trying to apologize for that! I got flowers and chocolate for you, Rune.” Ghestlin yelled at my back, ignoring Eirlana completely, clearly frustrated that I wouldn’t acknowledge him.

 

“I don’t want them Ghestlin. I just want you to leave me alone!” I shouted back, whirling around to face him.

 

“Give me a chance! Please, Rune, I just want a chance with you.” He pleaded, holding the flowers and chocolates out to me. By now, everyone around us was staring, making my face heat up with embarrassment when I saw the pitying looks that were being sent my way and I wanted the ground to just open up and swallow me whole. I could absolutely die of embarrassment right now and Ghestlin’s childish whining wasn’t helping the situation any.

 

“She said no Ghestlin. Leave it at that and leave her alone.” Eirlana spoke firmly, her arms crossed over her chest. A strange look passed over Ghestlin’s face before quickly morphing into a furious look, his eyes dark and lips twisted into a sneer.

 

“Shut _up_ Eirlana!” He shoved her hard, his face blank as she stumbled back and fell back into a barrel of blunted blades Master Revassan was supposed to repair.

 

“Eirlana!” Evunial shouted, racing towards his twin, crying out in anguish when he reached her lifeless form.

 

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen. I only wanted to scare her.” Ghestlin stammered, the slight smirk on his face saying otherwise.

 

“Leave, Ghestlin. You’re no longer welcome in Clan Lavellen.” My voice trembled as I fought back tears, my anger barely contained. He didn’t budge, choosing to stand there and smirk at me instead and it was like someone had flipped a switch. I saw red and I could feel fire burning up along my hands and up to my elbows, the flames glowing a bright purple, nearly turning white with how angry I was. “GET OUT! LEAVE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!” I hurled two fireballs at him, screaming at the top of my lungs as he fled like the coward chicken shit that he was. My temper got the better of me but I couldn’t control it; my best friend was gone because of this asshole and I was hurting beyond belief. Evunial staggered to his feet and pulled me into a tight embrace, both of us sobbing over Eirlana, our pain becoming one as everyone in the clan mourned for her.

 

“What is going on – Eirlana?” The Keeper came striding over to see why there was screaming and crying, freezing in place when she saw Eirlana still stuck in the barrel and the rest of us crying.

 

“That monster took her from us, Keeper Deshanna.” Someone shouted from the crowd that had gathered. Angry murmurs filled the crowd until it sounded like a swarm of angry bees had taken over the clan, everyone yelling about what to do about Ghestlin.

 

“He was trying to give me flowers and chocolates. Eirlana was trying to keep him away from me… I banished him, he’s no longer welcome here or in any other Dalish clan.” I whispered, trying to gather myself again and reel my emotions in. Keeper Deshanna nodded stiffly and barked out orders to everyone as she stomped off to make arrangements with the other clans that were still around.

 

“I’m so sorry Evunial, this is all my fault.” I rested my forehead on his shoulder, tears trickling down my face and onto his armor, leaving little water droplet patterns on the rich, brown leather.

 

“No, don’t say that. We know who caused this and he better get far away from here because I’ll fucking kill him myself if I see him.” Evunial snarled, hugging me tightly and rubbing my back softly.

 

_If I don’t kill him first, that is. I swear to you Evunial, I’ll get revenge for Eirlana, I swear it._


	4. Chapter 4

It had been three weeks since Eirlana had been laid to rest and I found myself spending more time either in my aravel or at the bar. Tonight was a bar night; I was busy getting wasted to try and forget all the shit I was going through. Mere days after burying my best friend, I received a box of rusted, bloody blades with a letter written in blood stuck in the box with the blades. A day after that, a box of chocolates and roses showed up. And the bizarre presents just kept coming every single day. I’d received a book of poems about death, murder, and love, a dead halla head, flowers, clothes, and I was about ready to lose my mind.

 

“Rune?”

 

I twirled my head around, giggling like a small child and let out a squeal when I saw Sam and Dean standing there, surprised looks on their faces.

 

“Sammy! Deano! How’s it goin’?” I slurred, spilling my drink a little. “Oops! My bad! Here lemme get that.” I reached for a napkin and knocked the menu on my table over in the process.

 

“Rune, hey, are you good?” Sam sat down and steadied me in my seat.

 

“I’m fantashtick. I am soooo shorry I haven’t texted back. See, my best friend was murdered three weeks ago,” I leaned in, motioning for them to lean in too, a serious look on my face. “So I’ve been a little upset. It’s been a terrible time.” I downed the rest of my drink and flagged my waiter down, a silly smile on my face.

 

“Could I get another Voodoo pleashe? And two orders of cheese fries with extra cheese and bacon bits.”

 

“Actually, make that a water. I think she’s had enough to drink already.” Sam interjected quietly. The waiter nodded, a sympathetic look on his face as he took my glass and walked away.

 

“I could have handled another drink.” I protested loudly. As I tried to scold Sam, I found myself leaning too far forward and toppled off my chair and to the ground, landing face first on the cold, wooden floor.

 

“Really? You think so?” Dean pulled me to my feet carefully, checking my face over for any marks.

 

“Am I funny to you?” I demanded hotly, squaring up and swinging at Dean, missing completely, spinning about and crashed into Sam.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy there tiger, calm down.” Dean’s grin quickly vanished when Sam helped me sit back down again.

 

“Rune, what do you mean your best friend was murdered?” Sam pried gently, placing a hand on mine.

 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I looked down at the table, my buzz dying off pretty quickly. The mood took a dark, glum turn and all I wanted was another drink to drown out my sorrows.

 

“Rune – “

 

“Eirlana’s been my best friend since I was five and she was six. I’d been having a hard time with an old clan member named Ghestlin and she stepped in to get him to back off,” My voice cracked and tears stung my eyes as I brought her up again. “He shoved her into a barrel of blades that was behind her.”

 

Things were quiet now and I brushed tears off my cheeks, bitter about still being here when Lana wasn’t.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

I felt Sam hug me tightly, followed by Dean and the waterworks started up again.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s still pretty fresh.” I apologized, dabbing my eyes with a napkin I grabbed off the table, blowing my nose and setting it aside. While I worked on getting myself back in order, Sam and Dean talked between themselves softly and Dean got to his feet, walking off towards the bar.

 

“I’m really sorry about what happened to Eirlana. I know how tough it is to lose a loved one. If you ever need to talk, you can always text me.” Sam’s voice was kind, comforting and that only made me want to cry more.

 

“Thank you. Really, I do appreciate it and it means a lot.” I murmured, giving him a slight smile. Dean came strolling back over to the table with my food and water in hand. I thanked him quietly and dug in, savoring the cheesy deliciousness of the fries.

 

“Oh, yep, this hits the spot big time.” I mumbled through a mouthful of fries, closing my eyes and practically groaned at the taste.

 

“You, my friend, have good taste.” Dean snagged a few fries from my second order of fries, popping them into his mouth hungrily. Sam scoffed a little, a slight grin on his face as he shook his head fondly.

 

“Great, you two are a perfect match when it comes to food.” He got to his feet and headed over to the bar for a drink, leaving Dean and I alone at the table.

 

“So. My brother thinks you’re cute by the way. Probably not the best time to mention it but hey when is it ever a good time?”

 

I choked on my water at his words, coughing hard, trying to catch my breath.

 

“Okay, so, I thought _I_ was the one who was wasted, but now I’m starting to question that.” I coughed, clearing my throat a few times and took another gulp of water. Before either of us could say anything else, Sam came walking back over, an odd look on his face as he took in Dean’s smirk.

 

“What? Why are you smiling?”

 

“Nothing, no reason.” Dean took off to the bar, pulling his phone out along the way, texting someone.

 

“He said you thought I was cute.” I felt a little awkward as I confessed what Dean told me, wincing a little as Sam went dark red and cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at me when he sat down.

 

“Damn it, Dean.” He muttered under his breath, putting his face in his hands.

 

“No, it’s fine. I, uh, well, I think you’re cute too.” My cheeks heated up to match his redness, but I couldn’t help the shy smile that slid onto my face. I was feeling braver than usual thanks to the alcohol in my system, though I was still astonished that I’d admitted I thought Sam was cute out loud to him.

 

“Listen, uh, we’ve got this case pretty much wrapped up and we’ll be leaving within the next day or so. Do you want to get lunch tomorrow while I’m still here?”

 

I broke out into a huge grin, nodding eagerly. I’d been hoping he would ask me out and now I was getting the chance! Excitement bubbled in the pit of my stomach and my heart felt lighter than air at the thought of going on a real date. I’d never actually been on a real date other than going for a hunt with Athras and even then, that felt more like work than an actual date.

 

“Yes! I’d love that. Um I should get going though. Keeper Deshanna is already… worried about me and I don’t want to worry her anymore than I already have.” I got to my feet, nearly toppling over in the process. Even with the greasy food, water and time to sober up, I was still drunk. A lot drunker than I was expecting to be honestly and I was mildly concerned with how I was going to get home. My magic felt dulled and weak thanks to the alcohol, so it’s not like I could use it to defend myself from anyone who might want to take advantage of the drunk elven woman stumbling home.

 

“Whoa! I’m gonna walk you home, alright? I don’t want you walking home at night like this.” Sam caught me, finished his beer and motioned to Dean, letting me him know he was taking me home. Dean waved goodbye, smirking a little as he shook his head in amusement.

 

“Bye Dean!” I waved back and leaned into Sam a little, pleased as punch that I was getting to spend some more time with him.


	5. Chapter 5

[Ghestlin’s POV]

I watched Rune from the darkest corner of the bar, my hood drawn and the owl mask on to keep her from seeing me. She’d been here for hours, just drinking, keeping to herself, so I decided to leave her there, satisfied no one would bother her. I had another gift to send her and with Rune being at the bar, now was the perfect time to slip into camp and leave it in her aravel. Thanks to this mask, I could do so many new, amazing things.

 

**_You almost got caught the night you found me._ **

 

I rolled my eyes as the whisper of a singular female voice echoed in my ears.

 

“Well I didn’t have you guiding me yet. So shut up.” I grumbled in annoyance. Since fusing with the mask, one voice stood out above all the others, and she had been the one guiding me.

 

**_Don’t strike an attitude with me, boy. Keep it up and I won’t help you._ **

 

I half snarled but dropped the subject, choosing to wrap the gift I’d put together for Rune.

 

**_I still don’t know why you’re doing all of this for a woman who doesn’t even remotely like you._ **

 

“It used to be because I loved her but after that cunt humiliated me and tossed me from the clan, now I just want to scare her and ruin her life like she did to me.”

 

The voice laughed, a low, throaty sound that left me shivering a little. She was certainly helpful but I was definitely wary of her despite her help. I wasn’t even sure what she was or why she even decided I was worth her time. I planned on doing some research into this mask and find out just who she was.

 

**_I like that plan so much more than just making her love you. You know what would make this even more delicious? Driving her completely mad._ **

 

I paused a moment, her words bouncing around in my skull. She was right; that did sound more fun. There was so much stuff I could do to drive her insane if I played my cards right.

 

“Yeah… I like the sound of that. I could keep her as a pet if I can break her mind completely.”

 

**_Now that would be fun to watch._ **

 

***

 

The sun was shining warmly down on the camp, lighting the place up except for the spot in the woods where I was manipulating the shadows, keeping myself hidden so I could watch Rune’s reaction to her gift.

 

“Ahhh!” Rune’s piercing shriek brought a smile to my face and I had to fight back a laugh when she came running out of her aravel, a panicked look on her face.

 

**_I see the human heart went over well. She must really love it._ **

 

“Oh yeah, absolutely. My work here is done for now. Time to plan my next move.” I grinned, walking away, a nice little pep in my step and I began whistling a jaunty little tune.

 

 ** _Must you be so… cheery? It’s sickening._** The voice complained and I could just picture her wrinkling her nose if she was corporeal.

 

“Shut up. I get to have a nice celebratory moment. I wasn’t even sure she was going to see the box until it had rotted. It would have been better if it was rotting, but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. If things kept up this well, I could have my own little Drusilla to love.

 

**_And just what is a “Drusilla” exactly?_ **

 

“She’s from an old show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was a woman driven mad and turned into a vampire.”

 

The voice snorted in disgust before going silent, leave me alone for once.

 

“Time to find something else to do for the lovely Rune. Maybe a nice perfume to offset the heart?” I mused aloud, walking down the street, looking in shop windows, trying to find something that caught my eye. Whatever I got, it had to be perfect for Rune. Despite all my anger, I still lusted after her and wanted her in my life, willing or not.

 

“Oh this is wonderful. And perfect!” I came to a halt in front of a little antique store when a beautiful necklace caught my eye. It was a small, delicate pentagram with roses engraved on it, perfect in every single way and I had to have it to gift it to Rune.

 

**_You should put a curse on it. Maybe something that would turn her into a beast or a mindless slave. Oh, mindless slave sounds much better and much more useful._ **

 

“No, no, this doesn’t warrant a curse. This is special, very special actually.”

 

 ** _Oh fine. You’re no fun, you know that?_** She groused with an exasperated sigh. I pointedly ignored her, going in and buying the necklace. This necklace would be instrumental in really screwing with Rune’s head, I just knew it, and Creators, I could not wait to see how it would play out.


	6. Chapter 6

[Rune’s POV]

 

“Who keeps _doing_ this? I am so _sick_ of getting these… these... _horrors_!” I was near tears while sitting with Lahalaan while Evunial and Athras dealt with the human heart in a box in my house.

 

“I don’t know, but I think it’s time we report this to the authorities. I wouldn’t normally suggest bringing in outsiders to help, but _we_ can’t even catch whoever is doing this.” Lahalaan hesitantly suggested after a beat of silence. I nodded, shoulders sagging, and gave a sigh of frustration while rubbing my face with my hands. I was much too hungover to deal with this shit right now.

 

“Oh shit, I need to go. I’m going to be late for my lunch date.” I got to my feet, went back into my aravel to grab the darkest pair of sunglasses I owned, and headed out, shivering a little when I noticed the blood stains on my floor.

 

“You have fun da’len and try to relax.” Keeper Deshanna spoke kindly as I passed by her.

 

“Thank you, Keeper. I’ll try.” I nodded back at her and hurried off so I could meet up with Sam.

 

***

 

“I am so sorry I’m late. This morning has been… rough.” I apologized profusely after sitting down across the table from Sam, completely embarrassed by my tardiness. I was usually _never_ late to _anything_ so it really bothered me I was late for this. Especially since I really liked Sam a lot and wanted to spend some time getting to know him better.

 

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Everything alright?” He asked, giving me a warm smile.

 

“Yes… Well… actually… no, everything isn’t alright. The day after Eirlana died, I’d started getting these packages. Some of them haven’t been too bad, in fact the first package was roses and some chocolate with a note apologizing for my loss. Others, however… well… let’s just say they’ve been unpleasant and disturbing. This morning I found a package in my aravel with a human heart and a love note written in blood confessing this person’s undying love for me,” I paused a moment when the waitress came by to take our drink and appetizer orders. “It’s been going on for close to a month now. And I feel so violated having these things show up in my freaking home.”

 

“You had said that you kicked Ghestlin from your clan right after he killed Eirlana. D’you think he’s involved?” Sam was frowning a little now, concern written all over his face.

 

“Yeah, that crossed my mind to be honest. I’m not sure how it could have been him though, there’s no way he could have gotten into camp without being seen. He was a hunter not a mage like me and like the Keeper. But this seems like something he would do to try and get back at me from kicking him from the only place he’d ever called home.” I replied, absently fiddling with a napkin, tearing it to pieces and crumbled it up again.

 

“Right, so no magic means no way to hide himself. Well, that could possibly rule him out. Is there anyone else with a grudge?” He ran his fingers through his hair, both of us trying to think of what to do.

 

“No, no one. I’m well loved among the rest of the clan and we rarely interact with anyone outside of each other. Ghestlin is literally the only person I can think of.” I shrugged, leaning back as the waitress came back with our drinks and appetizers and reached for a mozzarella stick, biting into it thoughtfully. If it was Ghestlin, then we needed to find out just how he was sneaking past everyone.

 

“If it was him, would he have any sort of help from anyone to sneak in or even deliver these packages for you?”

 

“No. No one in the clan has ever liked Ghestlin since he was brought in from a different clan. He’s always been… different, weird. He never fit in and enjoyed killing things a little too much. I was the only one who was ever nice to him because I felt bad for him. In fact, people were _happy_ when I banished him from the clan. There were even little celebrations going on once the Keeper had gone to bed.” Even now I still felt bad about that happening. Guilt was an odd thing really. I didn’t like Ghestlin by any means, but I did feel bad that no other clan wanted him, even ours. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take the conversation hostage with all of this negativity. Let’s just drop it and talk about something else for a while. You had mentioned that you and Dean are hunters, what’s it like? I bet all the traveling around and getting to see new places is nice.”

 

“Uh, yeah, it can be. I mean, I wish all the traveling wasn’t for fighting monsters though. It’d be nice to just, I dunno, see the places we go to as a tourist.” He shrugged and took a fry off my plate with a playful smile.

 

“Once everything gets fixed here, I’ll take you around Ostwick. It really is beautiful here when there’s not anything creepy going on.” By now, the conversation had relaxed a bit and I was starting to feel more comfortable as we chatted, more relaxed than I had been in a while. By the time we had mostly finished our food, I felt better than I had in almost a month, and the moment I looked up, all the good, happy feelings came crashing to a halt.

 

“Rune? Hey, what’s wrong?” Sam was instantly concerned when he saw the look on my face.

 

“The person in the owl mask is watching us.” I whimpered, blood draining from my face and I shrank back into my chair, trying to hide from view as best as possible. Sam was up in a flash, moving so fast, I wasn’t expecting it. He was out the door and heading towards the window where the owl masked person had been standing a moment ago, gun drawn. Five minutes later, he was back, breathing hard with a cross look on his.

 

“He got away, but I gave Dean a call to come by and give us a hand with this. We’ll need to check local hospitals and healers, I managed to shoot him in the shoulder blade before he seemed to almost vanish into the shadows.” Sam rested a hand on mine gently, stroking my skin lightly in a comforting way.

 

“Thank you. Creators, I hate this so much.” I whispered. I was shaking like a leaf as I sat there in the chair, pulling my hand back so I could wrap my arms around myself and drew my knees up to my chest, fighting back tears.

 

“Why is this happening to me?” I looked up at Sam, my voice breaking with emotions I could barely contain. Despair and anxiety were working their talons into me, clawing away at my resolve, leaving me feeling broken and afraid.

 

“I don’t know, but we’re going to put an end to it. I promise.” Sam hugged me tightly. I returned it, holding onto him tightly for a few moments and let it go, drawing back away from him again.

 

“Dean, hey, glad you’re here.”

 

Dean plopped down in the chair next to Sam’s, eager to get the details about everything going on.

 

“Yeah no problem Sammy. Alright, so who wants to fill me in on what’s up?” Dean gave us a look, glancing between the two of us curiously. Ten minutes later, Dean was swearing under his breath once he was up to speed on my current situation.

 

“Well that’s just peachy. Alright, I’ll call Cass in, see if he might know anything. Any chance you could describe the mask so I know what I’m looking for?” Dean probed, trying to get an answer from me.

 

“It’s… it’s old, really old. Maybe even elvhen in origin? It’s a barn owl styled mask and it covers the entire face. That’s about all I’ve got really, sorry it’s not much to go off of.” I had to take a moment to think about all the times I’d seen the mask so I could even describe it to them.

 

“Right, okay. I’ll head back to the bunker to check into some stuff. In the meantime, Sam, you stay here with Rune.” Dean got up, clapped me on the shoulder gently and left.

 

“You said this person shows up at your camp? Mind if I look around to see if I can find anything that might help us identify him?”

 

“No, of course not. I’ll see if Lahalaan, Evunial and Athras will help you look since they’ve been the ones who have been helping keep an eye out for anything.”


	7. Chapter 7

[Ghestlin’s POV]

Glass shattered against the wall of my room, followed by a chair, books and my table, all of them breaking apart as I raged, destroying everything I could. Another guttural scream tore through me, filling the small space until I couldn’t yell anymore. I was seething with anger and hatred, my teeth clenched together hard and my hands were trembling with rage.

 ** _Oh dear, seems little Rune has met someone. Boo hoo whatever will you do?_** The voice laughed maliciously in my ear, her words slithering like a viper around my brain.

 

“Shut up!” I bellowed, gripping my head in my hands, curling in on myself. How could Rune do this to me? She was going to waste her time on a hunter and a fucking _Winchester_ of all people?

 

**_Don’t work yourself up over her. She’s not that special._ **

I slammed my fist into a wall, leaving a hole behind. My fist throbbed in pain, letting me know that I had probably broken something when I’d connected with the solid wood of the wall.

 

“She _is_ special, damn it!”

 

**_Why? Because she was the only one who was nice to you? Please, cry me a river. No one is special, no one cares about you except for me. Kill this girl already Ghestlin. Kill her and I will grant you unimaginable power._ **

 

I straightened up, cradling my hand to my chest, thinking about what she had said.

 

“No, no. I’m going to hurt her first. I will kill everyone she loves, saving the hunter for last. Although I should string him up first for shooting me. Once I’ve broken her the way she broke me, _then_ I’ll kill her.”

 

 ** _Fine, fine as long as she dies, I don’t care._** She hissed before shutting herself up, leaving me alone in silence. I removed the mask and set it carefully down in the box it had come in, stepping away from the table to take a moment and calm myself down. My thoughts were racing and my heart was beating loudly in my chest. I needed to find out just who was in my head whenever I wore the mask so I knew what I was getting myself into with the promises of power and I needed to be sure this wasn’t going to come back and bite me in the ass. I was already in far too deep to back out now and power sounded so good, I could make the clans pay for not respecting me and so many other things.

 

***

 

[Dean’s POV]

 

“Dean.”

 

“Jesus, Cass! Don’t do that!” I jumped five feet in the air when our angel pal came poppin’ up out of nowhere, taking me by surprise.

 

“Sorry. You called for help, what is the problem?” Cass stared at me with his usual serious look and sat down when I motioned for him to.

 

“Sam’s new girlfriend has a stalker that’s got a creepy owl mask he or she wears to hide their face. Pretty nasty business if you ask me, especially if I’m right about this hunch I have.” A feminine voice came from behind me and I grinned widely when I turned to see my sort of girlfriend, sort of friend with benefits come walking up from the kitchen, a fruity drink in her hand and one of my shirts on over her tank top.

 

“Ashanna, what’re you doing here?” I pulled her in for a hug and a kiss, happy to see the elven woman.

 

“Oh, you know, just thought I’d pop in for a visit. Oh, and Sam called me to fill me in on what’s going on. He figured since my clan is so old, we’d know something about this mask.” She laughed while dropping herself into one of the nice leather chairs that was in the library.

 

“Nice job Sammy, that was smart of him to do. Rune thought it could be from the time of Arlathan.” I nodded, proud of him for thinking of calling Ash. If anyone would know what weird elf shit was going on, she was the girl to get involved. Her clan was old school and ancient, so it made since she would have some sort of knowledge about this shit.

 

“It could very well be a mask that was worn during a hunt or possibly a mask the Andruil, Goddess of the Hunt, would wear or her slaves and followers would wear. I’ll have to get in contact with my Keeper see what he says. I’ve checked all the books here and you guys have little on elvhen lore, so it wasn’t very helpful and the stuff you _do_ have is all a load of crap by the way. These Men of Letters guys were ignorant fucksticks and obviously never even _bothered_ talking to an elf.” Ash mused, leaning back in her seat, frowning a little bit.

 

“Son of a bitch, that figures. Well, what now then? If we don’t have anything here, we need to start somewhere.” I grumbled.

 

“Did you check the library in Ostwick? They could possibly have something there that’s useful.”

 

“I’ll check with some of my contacts in Heaven. They might know something. We should also ask Crowley, as much as I hate to involve him.” Cass tacked on before vanishing again.

 

“I hate it when he does that,” Ashanna muttered while pulling her phone out and getting to her feet. “Also, I’ve got Crowley. Fucker owes me a favor anyway, so it’s best if I call. I’ll also get in touch with my Keeper as well, see if he’s got anything for me.”

 

“Great. Wait, what did you do for _Crowley_ to owe you a favor?” I stared at her in shock. That son of a bitch never did anything for anyone even if he did owe them one.

 

“I kicked the shit out of a hellhound that was kicking the shit out of his hellhound. I may have also taken a few pot shots at Juliet as well, but he doesn’t have to know it was on purpose.” She grinned wolfishly and walked off, firing away in elvhen quickly.


	8. Chapter 8

[Rune’s POV]

 

“So this is the guy you’ve been talking to? He’s cute.” Lahalaan whispered as we watched Sam, Evunial, & Athras were looking for clues.

 

“I think so too. He and his brother are hunters and they’ve been absolutely wonderful.” I whispered back, a soft smile on my face.

 

“Hunters, huh? We don’t see many of them around here. I take it they’re working this case?”

 

I nodded, waiting to see what the guys had to say when they came walking over.

 

“We found some footprints around your aravel. I don’t know how we missed that before unless whoever did this is slipping up.” Athras huffed, rubbing the back of his neck and spat on the ground.

 

“Rune, you’re not safe here. If this person can sneak past us here in camp, then you’re not able to stay here safely. Sam, take Rune somewhere else.” Keeper Deshanna came walking up to us, a stoic look on her face.

 

“Keeper?” Evunial sounded as surprised as I felt by the suggestion.

 

“I don’t want to send you away da’len, but it’s for the best. I need to know you’ll be safe. I… am afraid of what Ghestlin will do to you if given the opportunity.” She put a rugged hand on my cheek, a sad look in her eyes. I nodded after a moment, hugging her tightly and went to my aravel, packing up a couple bags, grabbed my staff and followed Sam.

 

“Bye Rune.”

 

“Take care of yourself lethallan.”

 

Everyone from the clan came to see me off, saying their goodbyes.

 

“It won’t be forever. I’ll be back soon.”

 

***

 

“Do you really think I’ll be safe here Sam? And… will the clan be okay if I’m not with them?”

 

“Honestly? I don’t know. Your Keeper mentioned something about putting up extra wards, so that should help.”

 

I nodded absently, looking out the window, watching the rain pouring down outside. Thunder rolled off in the distance, faint but ominous, lending the perfect tone to set the mood of our situation.

 

“Of course. She’s always prepared.” I murmured and sat down on the bed, tired to my core.

 

“Rune, hey, it’s alright.” Sam sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and gave me a tight, gentle squeeze. “Why don’t I go grab some food?”

 

“Yeah, sure, sounds good.” I nodded, my stomach growling. Sam got up and headed out, promising to be back soon.

 

 _Well now what do I do?_ I was pacing back and forth, trying to find something to occupy my time.

 

“Oh, shit.” I growled when I saw ice forming on my feet and fingertips, my magic going haywire from stress. “Well, guess I’ll meditate.” I sighed and sat back down on the bed, breathing in slowly, held it in for a few minutes, and breathed out. Meditation was one of the best ways to get my magic under control, especially when I was stressed.

 

“Whoa.”

 

I opened my eyes, my breath puffing in front of me and I gasped, realizing the room dropped to a little below zero and my skin looked like diamonds had coated me.

 

“Sorry, uh, my magic gets a little… odd when I’m anxious and upset.” I grinned sheepishly, shaking my hands a bit, trying to get myself warmed up. Sam set the food down and gently took my hand in his, lifting my arm up so he could take a closer look, absolutely fascinated with the pretty snowflake like patterns on my arms.

 

“This is amazing! Do all mages experience stuff like this? And I’ve been meaning to ask: what’s the difference between witches and mages?”

 

“Well, mages are born with their magic much like a lot of witches are, however we’re more susceptible to demonic possession. Demons love mages and want to take over our bodies so they can be free of the Fade.” I turned on the heat, waiting for it to kick in and fix my magic mishap while I’d been meditating.

 

“Interesting. So mages don’t use things like hex bags?” Sam inquired curiously, pulling the food out and getting it set up on the table.

 

“No, nothing like that. We draw our magic from the Fade, basically the ability of a living being to expend mana is what defines a mage. Mana, by the way, is a measurement of one's ability to channel energy from the Fade, and this energy is expended in the practice of magic.” I explained, taking a seat at the table and got my things ready to eat, trying to decide where to start first.

 

“And what’s the Fade exactly? You keep bringing it up but I’ve never heard of anything like this.”

 

“Wow, uh, that’s… a little more complicated to get into. To be honest, I don’t entirely understand it myself really.” I winced, rubbing the back of my neck. Sam nodded, grinning just a little bit. We chatted about our lives, exchanging stories and jokes, when Sam’s phone rang.

 

“Dean? Wait, hold on, uh, slow down. Yeah, yeah, we’re at the Crimson Rose hotel, room 142. Sure, see you soon.”

 

“I take it Dean’s on his way back?” I took a bite of my pasta, watching Sam curiously. He nodded and offered me a beer. I accepted it gratefully, taking a long pull on the bottle. I was still so anxious about everything but being here with Sam was helping.

 

“Yeah, he’ll be here in an hour.” He nodded, taking a drink of his beer as well.

 

“Well, what better way to kill time than by playing cards? Want to learn how to play Wicked Grace?” I nodded towards my bags where I had a deck of cards stashed. I’d learned this from my pal Varric Tethras and I had gotten pretty good at it and since I hadn’t played in a while, it seemed like a good time to play.

 

“Sure. What, uh, what’s Wicked Grace?” Sam brushed his hands off and cleared the table so I could set up, explaining the rules as I got everything ready to go.

 

“So basically cheat but don’t be obvious about it or get caught. Sounds like Dean’s kinda game.” Sam laughed, taking his cards and waited for me to give the go ahead.

 

“Pretty much I guess. Bluffing is a big part of this game, you really need a good poker face to play.” I laughed, shooting Sam a genuine smile. “Anyway, while we play, let’s get to know each other better.”

 

***

 

An hour later, I felt as if I’d known Sam my entire life. We discussed our childhoods, teenage years and everything in between.

 

“I’m so sorry about everything you’ve gone through.” I rested a hand on his, a sympathetic look on my face.

 

“It’s okay. I mean, I’m dealing as best as I can.”

 

A knock on the door brought our moment to a halt and I had to admit I was a little disappointed when Sam got up and opened the door, letting Dean and three other people I didn’t recognize into the room. Dean and the elven woman dropped some bags on one of the beds and the woman turned to look me over, a slight grin on her angled face.

 

“Rune, this is Cass, my best girl Ashanna, and Crowley. You don’t really need to talk to him, he’s an annoying ass.” Dean made introductions, pointing at everyone as he said their names.

 

“It’s great to meet you Rune. Interesting vallaslin, who’s it for?” Ashanna embraced me warmly, a genuine smile on her face when she let go.

 

“Oh, ah, Fen’Harel actually. I designed it and did it myself as no one else in the clan felt comfortable with it.” I murmured shyly.

 

“Nice! That is damn impressive honestly. I’ve never known anyone who did their own vallaslin. Of course, no one in my clan wears it, so I guess that doesn’t really count.”

 

“Thank you, Ashanna. What clan are you from? I don’t recognize you from Arlathvhen but you’re certainly no city elf, either.”

 

“My clan is an old clan. My Keeper and the rest of us are from the time of Arlathan.” Ashanna responded after a moment of hesitation.

 

“What?! How is that possible?” I gasped, my jaw dropping in shock.

 

“Dirthamen is my Keeper. He grew tired of the infighting between the other Evanuris and took his followers with him deep into what is known as the Arbor Wilds. We had been in Uthenera when Fen’Harel created the Veil. And because of my age and knowledge, that is why I am here to help you.” Ashanna explained quietly. I sat down on a chair, my head spinning as I took in this information, completely stunned by her words.

 

“What’s the matter kitten? Too shocked?” Crowley piped up with a smirk.

 

“Shut up Crowley. This is a lot of information to take in.” Ashanna snapped back at him, giving Crowley the evil eye.

 

“Can we get back on track here please? We’re not the only ones researching that mask. That Ghestlin freak? We saw him at the library here in Ostwick, muttering about the mask and digging through books that we had been looking for.” Dean interjected crossly, getting everyone to look at him.

 

“Why would he be researching the mask?” Sam frowned, furrowing his brow in frustration.

 

“Why else Moose? Either he knows who has it or he’s the one wearing the bloody thing.”


	9. Chapter 9

[Ghestlin’s POV]

**_She’s gone? What do you mean she’s gone?_ **

 

“She’s not at the camp. And the damned Keeper put extra wards up, so I can’t get in there to find out where she was taken.” I was pacing back and forth, on edge and almost panicked. If Rune left, I wouldn’t be able to exact my revenge and my plans would be ruined.

 

 ** _Find her, track her down. She couldn’t have gotten that far._** The voice sounded angrier than I’d ever heard before. It was a little spine chilling if I was being honest.

 

“I know, I know. I’ll find her.” I growled, making a face. That damned Winchester must have whisked her away. This threw quite the wrench in my plans.

 

“Son of a bitch!” I hissed, irritated and worried. If I didn’t find Rune soon, I’d need another plan to flush her out.

 

**_Kill the clan one by one until she shows up. Use your bizarre technology and get her attention._ **

 

I stopped in place, a grin sliding onto my face at her words. That was a brilliant idea! I could make a video of myself killing each clan member slowly. She would _have_ to come to me if she wanted them to live.

 

 ** _Get moving then. It seems you have a lot of work to do._** She snarled and went silent once I removed the mask. She was the right though; I did have a lot I needed to do. This was going to be quite the show.

 

***

 

“Here’s everything I got. It don’t come cheap though.”

 

I’d found a demon who dealt with weapons and various instruments of torture and I was looking to work out a deal with him.

 

“Right. How much?” I glowered at him, my eyes narrowed dangerously as I stared the slimy little cretin down.

 

“Two hundred bucks and an angel blade. And lemme tell ya, those blades are hard to get hold of, but a guy needs protection, am I right or am I right?” His smile showed too much tooth for my taste, a malicious glint in his eyes and a downright smarmy attitude that really pissed me off.

 

“Hmm… Nope, not gonna work for me.” I smiled pleasantly at him before striking him in the temple twice, knocking him out cold, his body dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “Nice doing business with you, though. Thanks for the tools.” I gathered everything up and shoved it into the trunk of my car, whistling a jaunty little tune as I stepped over his body, pausing a moment to kick him in the face before sliding in behind the wheel and driving away.

 

_Well that was a lot easier than I thought. And went far better than planned._

 

My moment was coming and I was going to shine brightly during this performance. Rune had no idea just what it was she was going to face and I was going to enjoy every little second of it.

 

***

 

 ** _Is everything ready yet? I’m getting tired of waiting for you to hold up your end of the deal._** dying to visit.” I laugh maniacally, going on my way, fixing bodies so it looked nice for Rune.

 

**_Tell me you’ll record this. I want to see it once I’m whole again._ **

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve got cameras set up all over the place. You’ll get to see it all, don’t worry.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a heads up, these next few chapters will be labeled with a trigger warning for some seriously dark material of torture, death, etc.

[Rune’s POV]

 

“So… Dirthamen is your Keeper?”

 

Ashanna and I were sitting in the hotel, talking and getting to know one another while we searched through some books she got at the library and that her Keeper sent her.

 

“Yeah, he’s really not that bad. Out of all the Evanuris, he and Mythal were the kindest. I think you’d really like him.” She replied, flipping open another book to look through.

 

“If I make it through this, I’d love to make a trip with you to see your clan and learn from them.” I leaned over and snagged yet another book, carefully opening the delicate, old pages.

 

“That’d be great. Sam and you, by the way. You two an item?” She glanced up with a sly grin on her face. I could feel my face darken up with embarrassment and I looked everywhere but at her, rubbing my neck uncomfortably.

 

“Oh. Ah… well, n-no not exactly. I mean… I’d like to be, he’s really cute and sweet and he has been so wonderful during all of this mess.” I could just die from mortification right about now. If the floor could open and swallow me whole at that moment, I would be happy. Ash was grinning so widely that I was even more embarrassed than I already was.

 

“Aw you guys would be a cute pair. Mr. Tall and Ms. Short? Talk about adorable. Oh and if you guys got married and had kids, just think of how precious they’d be!”

 

I hid my face in a book, almost certain that my skin would be a permanent shade of crimson now, especially with her mentioning kids. I tried to focus on the words in front of me, struggling a little when Ash giggled again before falling silent so she could work too.

 

“Oh fuck.” Her face went white and she scrambled to her feet. “Stay here. Do _not_ leave under _any_ circumstances.”

 

I watched as she bookmarked the page that page that scared her, bolted to her feet and sprinted out of the room at full speed. Whatever she found, it spooked her big time and I _really_ did not like that. A chime on my phone caught my attention and I opened the text, curious about who was texting me.

 

 _A video? That’s weird._ I hit play on the video, watching as Evunial showed up on camera. A dawning horror grew on me as the masked person came strolling onto screen.

 

“Little Rune, little Rune, come out to play. Poor Evunial misses you so.” The voice was distorted so I couldn’t place it, but it didn’t matter as this sick son of a bitch took an ice pick and slammed it into Evunial’s hand. The scream he let out was blood curdling and I cried out, covering my mouth with my hand, tears stinging my eyes.

 

“Rune, Rune, Rune. If you don’t get your pretty little ass back to the camp, I’ll kill him. Slowly. Painfully.” The masked man pointed towards the camera before twisting the pick in Evunial’s hand, another spine-chilling scream ripping from him before the video cut off. I sat there quietly, my hands trembling and my stomach churning. Why was this person doing this? And why target me?

 

My phone chimed again, signaling I had another text. With shaking hands, I lifted my phone back up, afraid to see what new horror was waiting for me to watch. I let out a half sob, half laugh when I saw it was from Sam.

 

**Rune, Ash and Dean are looking for Ghestlin. Cass and Crowley are MIA. I’m coming back to get you. Stay put!**

 

Another chime came in, a picture of the book Ash was looking at.

 

“Andruil? This is hers?” I got up quickly and grabbed the books, flipping through them frantically, coming to a personal journal entry about Andruil that Dirthamen had written. I stood there, taking in what I was reading, fear leaving me in a cold sweat. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I grabbed my phone when it went off again, my palms slick with sweat as I slid my finger across the screen to see what fresh hell was being sent to me.

 

“Rune, you’re taking far too long to get here, so poor Evunial had to suffer for it. I suggest you hurry, my sweet little Rune. You don’t want Lahalaan to meet the same fate as Evunial, do you? You have thirty minutes to get here and come alone. If the Winchesters show up, you die. Slowly.”

 

***

 

Fifteen minutes later, I was slowly approaching the camp, stopping just outside of some horrific maze this freak set up with the aravels.

 

 **Sam, I’m at the camp. He’s here waiting for me. I’m sorry.** I dropped my phone after texting Sam, tightened my grip on my staff and walking into the hell that was waiting for me, steeling myself for whatever shit I was going to see.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING** There are mentions of children's deaths, so I want to make people aware of that so it doesn't take anyone by surprise.

I had gotten half way through the death maze, sobbing my eyes out with each person I’d passed. Each and every clan member had been sliced up and tortured, and I vomited a handful of times upon seeing the children.

 

“Oh Evunial… I’m so sorry.” I came to a halt when I saw him strewn about on a table, a grimace of pain frozen on his face. How someone could do this people, I would never understand.

 

“Rest easy friend.” I whispered, closing his eyes and flinching at the warmth that still lingered on his skin. I pushed on, forcing myself to stare ahead and try to not look at what he’d done with the other bodies, my stomach clenching and churning, the sickness rising up my throat again.

 

“Oh!” I let out a little gasp as I nearly tripped over a hallas’ corpse that had been tossed aside, the once white fur stained pink from the blood loss.

 

 _Really? Even the halla had to suffer for this?_ My lip curled in disgust, my fear turning into anger even more quickly, especially after coming across the gristly scene of three children that had been crucified. Mask man was going to pay for this. I wasn’t much of a fighter; I had noodle arms with poor upper arm strength, but I had my magic and my brains, and I would use that. If I died avenging my clan, then so be it.

 

***

 

[Sam’s POV]

 

“She left? And went where exactly?” Ashanna’s voice was high pitched and squeaky, and I winced a little at the pitch.

 

“She went to her clans’ camp. I’ve been trying to call her and she hasn’t answered.” I was trying to stay calm as I ran to Rune’s camp, but my heart was dropping to my feet.

 

“We’re heading there now. Crowley got a tip from a demon who met the masked man, so we were… talking to him.” Dean spoke up in the background, a smug tone in his voice.

 

“Yeah, that figures.” I grumbled under my breath.

 

“Sam, whatever happens, do not let Ghestlin put Andruils’ mask on Runes’ corpse. Not that I think she’ll die or anything, but it’s a precautionary thing. It would be really bad and we’ll all die.” Ash added in before hanging up.

 

“Great time to be cryptic, Ashanna. No wonder you follow an elven god of secrets.” I muttered, pushing myself to go faster once the camp came into sight. I slowed to a jog when I saw something lighting up on the grass ten feet in front of me, the light catching my attention right away.

 

“Shit.” I picked Runes’ phone up and pocketed it, even more worried to just find her phone laying here in the grass. Moving fast, I drew my gun and headed into the maze, swearing under my breath at all of the carnage I was seeing.

 

_I’m coming Rune, just hold on._

 

***

 

[Rune’s POV]

 

“Okay, I’m here. I came alone like you wanted.” I was standing in a clearing, anxiously waiting for the masked fuck to show up. Silence reigned as I stood there, gripping my staff tightly, waiting there in the dark.

 

“More games. I am so sick of being toyed with! You’ve taken everything from me! My friends, my family, _everything_. Come out and face me, damn it!” I shouted into the darkness. Familiar laughter came slithering out of the night, that cruel sound making my skin crawl.

 

“Come alone? Oh, Rune, don’t lie to me. I can see your little boyfriend making his way here.” Ghestlin came walking out when a bright spotlight came on, illuminating the clearing. I flinched at the sudden brightness and took a tiny step back away from my tormentor.

 

“Why would you do this? How could you kill the clan?” I demanded angrily, taking another small step back away from him.

 

“It was easy. Well, except for the kids. I do actually feel bad about that. But everyone else? It felt so good to hurt them, to make them suffer the way I did.” He was walking towards me with a smile on his face as he drew closer. I kept backing up and side stepping, keeping my staff up in front of me in defense, the shard blade at the end of the cherry wood glinting maliciously in the floodlight.

 

“The only reason you “suffered” is because you were weird and hostile to everyone. Keeper Deshanna and I both went out of our way to try to help you. If you had just tried to find your place and tried to get along with everyone, you wouldn’t have been so “miserable”! Everyone was trying to make you feel welcome, but you chased them off.” I snapped at him, bristling at his words. My clan had been the last ones to get saddled with Ghestlin after he’d been through all of the other clans and we’d done our best to make him feel welcomed when no one else wanted him. I saw the anger and hurt flash through his eyes as he came to an abrupt halt, staring me down with narrowed eyes.

 

“Rune? Rune!” Sam’s voice came from the distance and it took everything in me not to call out to him even though I desperately wanted to.

 

“Put the staff down, Rune.” Ghestlin was still staring hard at me, a knife in his hand and he slipped the owl mask, _Andruils’_ mask, on and came charging towards me. I threw myself to the side, throwing my hand out to launch a ball of ice at him.

 

“Don’t fucking fight me bitch!” He roared, whirling around and swung the knife down at me. I let out a gasp as the blade connected with my ice armor I managed to put up in time, my eyes wide with fear. The reality of how stupid I was was coming in clearly now and I was kicking myself for coming in here so unprepared.

 

“Stop Ghestlin!” I whimpered, backing away just far enough that I could lift my staff and start attacking with it, using the focus to channel my magic better and use stronger spells to hit him with. I spun my staff over my head and slammed the tip into the ground, allowing myself a little grin as lightning streaked along the ground, smashing into Ghestlin. He let out a bellow of rage and pain, racing towards me again, taking me by surprise. A cold, sharp sensation brought me to a mental crash and I slowly reached up to my face, touching my skin gently. I pulled my fingers away from the wet, sticky feeling and saw blood come away with my fingers.

 

“Ghestlin…” My eyes were wide, shock coursing through my body. I knew he wanted to kill me but just feeling the blade slice my skin really brought it home for me. I had to get out of here, find Sam, anything to stay alive.

 

“Hold still.” He snarled through grit teeth, a crazed look in his eyes and his voice sounded strange, distorted almost, with a feminine tone blending with his. He smashed a foot into the back of my calf, bringing me to my knees and stepped on the leg he kicked out from under me, keeping me pinned there.

 

“Stop!” I screamed, making myself as loud as I could so Sam could hear me and hopefully get to the clearing faster.

 

“Sorry beautiful, but Andruil needs a new body and I need you to provide that.” Ghestlin muttered and swung the knife down, aiming for my throat.


	12. Chapter 12

I braced myself for the knife to pierce my skin, my eyes closed tightly out of fear, waiting for the blow to come. Rapid footsteps caught my hearing and I heard Ghestlin get upset at whoever showed up.

 

“What the – Oof!”

 

I opened my eyes and saw Sam tackle Ghestlin from the side, both of them crashing to the ground together.

 

“Sam!” I grabbed my staff and used it to pull myself up, wincing at the pain in my calf from Ghestlin kneeling on me. Sam got to his feet and hurried over, embracing me tightly.

 

“Rune, you okay?” He looked me over, pausing when he took in the slice on my face.

 

“I’m okay, just a little sliced up. I’ll live.” I winced as he gently probed the area of the cut. It had stopped bleeding thankfully but it stung like a motherfucker.

 

“You! You have been a thorn in my side since you came into the picture!” Ghestlin roared, rage and hatred burning in his eyes. He lurched to his feet, raising his arm into the air and sprinted towards Sam, dead set on stabbing him.

 

“Watch out!” I shoved Sam out of the way, howling in pain as the blade sank into my shoulder blade.

 

“Rune!”

“Son of a bitch!”

 

The loud crack of a gunshot echoed through the air, the suddenness taking everyone by surprise. We watched as Ghestlin just dropped like a sack of potatoes, blood appearing on the mask from the gunshot wound. Standing there with his gun drawn, was Dean.

 

“Dean?” Sam looked and sounded relieved when he spotted Dean and Ashanna standing there. They hurried over, worried looks on their faces as they took in our disheveled appearances.

 

“Sammy, Rune, you guys alright?”

 

“Do I look alright to you?” I growled, trying to stay as still as possible so I didn’t jostle the knife that was still in my back.

 

“I mean, you don’t look half bad for someone who’s been terrorized, sliced and diced and stabbed.” Ash joked, grinning at me. I made a face at her and laughed, mostly from shot nerves than actual amusement.

 

“Great, can we remove the blade from my back please? It’s uncomfortable and honestly, I really want to leave. I can’t take being here much longer.”

 

***

 

[One Week Later]

With everyone’s help, we buried my clan and got the camp cleared up. It was one of the most painful things I’d ever had to do and I hated every moment of it. If I didn’t have Sam and the others here with me, I didn’t think I’d have been able to do it all.

 

“How are you holding up?”

 

I was sitting outside Starbucks with Sam, quietly sipping on my frappe, lost in my own thoughts.

 

“I’m surviving. I… think I’m going to move on from here. Too many bad memories linger and it’s more than I can deal with.” I shrugged, setting my drink down on the table and leaned back in my chair.

 

“Fair enough. Any idea where you’ll go?”

 

“Not really. I could go to the College of Mages to study magic and learn more about it. I could also go to Skyhold University since I got accepted into the culinary arts program. I’d actually forgotten I’d applied in the midst of all of… this. I also discussed going to the Arbor Wilds with Ashanna to meet her clan and speak with Dirthamen, maybe even learn from him about the ways of our people.” I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I’d never been without my clan before, so this was all still so new to me.

 

“I… also debated on coming with you and Dean. That is, if you would be alright with that.” I felt my face flush with embarrassment, smiling shyly at Sam.

 

“Yeah, that’d, uh, be great. We could always use someone with your knowledge of magic.” Sam grinned before clearing his throat awkwardly and ran a hand through his hair, a little nervous himself now.

 

“Cool,” I was smiling a little and got to my feet. “Then let’s go. I’m ready to leave whenever you are.”


End file.
